Lebanon is uniquely uninviting as a temporary home for these Palestinians because Palestinians are denied the legal right to work in any but the most unskilled jobs and are not eligible for Lebanese citizenship. In Lebanon, more than half of all young Palestinians are unemployed, and many of those who do have jobs are significantly underemployed. The camps have grown into Palestinian ghettos, which lack basic services, and are ignored or feared by many Lebanese who would never consider going into one of these Palestinian ghettos.

Lebanon is home to an estimated 350,000 Palestinian refugees, of which an estimated 200,000 live in refugee camps. The largest of these camps is Ein el Helweh outside the city of Sidon, which holds as many as 70,000 Palestinian in an area of less than 2 km sq. Ein el Helweh can be a tense place. More than half a dozen different political movements-most of them armed-operate within the camp. The camp, like other refugee camps in Lebanon, is a law unto itself. Though the Lebanese Army controls access to the camp, no Lebanese soldier or policeman will ever enter the camp. In fact, there are residents of the camp who never leave its confines because they have been convicted in absentia by Lebanese courts for their activities during the Lebanese civil war and would be arrested at the camp entrance.

The physical conditions of Ein el Helweh are no more encouraging. Utilities are not provided regularly, so that lack of electricity is the norm, and it is not unusual to find sewage running through the narrow alleys where children play. Under such conditions it was not unusual for petty disagreements to flare up into tit-for-tat shootouts or car bombings done under the thin excuse of political disagreements between the competing political parties.

Because of these ingredients, Ein el Helweh has often seemed a hopeless place, one where despair reigns. In the past, most conversations with visiting foreigners have centered around discussing strategies on how to obtain an immigrant visa to the United States or Western Europe. Two events have recently changed this: Hizbollah's victory over Israel in Southern Lebanon, and the new "al-Aqsa Intifada" in Gaza and the West Bank. The psychological impact of the fact that the Israelis have now been defeated on the battlefield by Hizbollah and the pride the Palestinian Diaspora has in those Palestinians who are resisting the Israeli occupation cannot be overstated.

Within Ein el Helweh there are indications that since the Intifada there has been greater cooperation between the political factions. There are many young men in the camps who would like to fight Israel head-on. Most observers believe that it would be difficult for Palestinians to again use Lebanon as a base against Israel. In fact, leaders in the camp say diplomatically that they would not even consider military action without permission from Lebanese groups and unless there were similar cross-border attacks launched from Jordan and Egypt. The question is, will the temptation be too great for the many Palestinians who may feel they have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.